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Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance

Overview

Familiar faces and brand new mortal kombatants square off against one another in a series of brutal one-on-one bouts. It's time for... MORTAL KOMBAT!

FINISH HIM! Two words that any gamer worth their blistered thumbs will instantly recognise. In this case, it heralds the long awaited return of the 'other' parent of the beat 'em up genre (the ongoing Street Fighter vs. Mortal Kombat divorce case rages on over who should get custody of The Carpenters albums and Foot Spa). The classic battle royale arrives on PS2 with full 3D graphics, new characters and of course a dripping, fleshy bag of new fatality moves. Outworld's resident evil Shang Tsung has formed a deadly alliance with the sorcerer Quan Chi and once again the forces of good must stand against Outworld to save the Earth. Familiar faces and brand new mortal kombatants square off against one another in a series of brutal one-on-one bouts. It's time for... MORTAL KOMBAT!

If you're familiar with any of the previous MK beat 'em ups (the less said about MK: Special Forces and MK: Mythologies the better) you'll feel right at home surrounded by a lot of the 'friendly' faces you have come to know and love. Raiden, Johnny Cage, Sub-Zero, Sonya and Scorpion are amongst the returning cast with overweight master Bo' Rai Cho, demonic Drahmin, Blind Kenshi and the 'Sub-Zeroette' Frost swelling the ranks.

Also new to MK:DA is the ability to switch fighting styles mid-bout. Each warrior has three styles, two hand-to-hand and one melee weapon style. This allows you to vary your combat method according to your opponent's style and how desperate you are (the weapon style causes most damage, but increases the damage you take from hits). No two styles are alike and each is accompanied by some well-researched and elegantly animated moves. On the subject of visuals, you'll be peering through your fingers at the stomach churning blood-effects, real-time battle damage and finishing moves that deserve to be accompanied by a sick-bag including Johnny Cage's Brain Ripper and Kano's Open Heart Surgery.

As well as the standard Arcade and two-player Versus modes, you can begin the long journey to true enlightenment (or some nonsense) in Konquest. A combination of training mode and a skill challenge, you fight your way through a series of tests ranging from the mind numbingly easy (walk forward three paces, walk back three paces) to the ludicrously difficult (defeat Shao Khan with one hand, while juggling chainsaws and gargling the National Anthem... only kidding). As you pass each test you earn Koins to spend opening Koffins in the Krypt (krikey!), which contain secret goodies such as new costumes, new characters and even photos of the programmers (woo-hoo!).

After a long time in the gaming wilderness, Midway's Mortal Kombat franchise has finally had enough of getting sand kicked in its face, has taken the Charles Atlas workout and come back to show the current beat 'em up pretenders how it's really done. At its heart, MK:DA is a solid beat 'em up with imaginative characters and an instinctive control method. Add to that the glorious triple fighting styles, fluid animation and gore so real it'll leave your granddad bruised and you know that this is one deadly alliance you should be a part of.